


Five of Cups

by ASkyOfKai



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Basically, Everyone is with everyone - Freeform, Fae & Fairies, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Polysanders - Freeform, man you would not believe how hard the ship tagging is in this fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 23:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16459145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASkyOfKai/pseuds/ASkyOfKai
Summary: Love can be complicated. Throw in Fae magic, a family vendetta that goes back centuries, and a stubborn tarot deck and you have Patton's life. But things will work themselves out. Right?





	1. Page of Wands

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *looks at numerous books waiting to be updated across various sites*  
> Brain: Hey remember that idea we had a while back? Let's write that instead.
> 
> Just a little bit of information:  
> ~I spent about 40 minutes calculating all of the Sides' destiny numbers to match their last names so when you get to that part, please just take a moment to appreciate it, okay?  
> ~None of the puns that Patton says are my own, they all come from various corners of the Internet  
> ~I have done my best to integrate Fae mythology into a modern magic au so if it seems rough in some parts, I'm sorry

Shimmering bubbles surrounded Patton as he sat suspended in the backyard. The air was wavering, as though made of water and his fingertips were alight with flaming magick. Nearby trees whispered their wind-songs and the Earth rejoiced in the Midsummer Night glow. The mood overhead shone brightly, the soft blue sky around it fading into the darker shadows of twilight. 

“Patton!” His mother’s voice called and Patton dropped to the ground, taking a deep breath and opening his eyes. The magic crackled in his clothes and hair as he shook himself out and jogged over to the back door. 

“Yes Mama?” He asked.

“We’ve decided you can go to regular school.” The bubbles behind him lit up in a shining brilliance that mirrored the ecstatic grin creeping onto his face. “It’s your senior year. You’ll be off to college soon, and you’ve gotten a lot better at controlling yourself, so you deserve it.”

“Thank you!” Patton leapt into his mother’s arms and hugged her tightly as she laughed affectionately and hugged him back. 

“Patton’s going to school!” Patricia yelled and raced upstairs to tell Petunia, Patrick, and Penelope. Patton smiled wider as he followed Patricia inside the house and up to the bedrooms.

“You’ll be going soon enough,” Patton giggled as the 8-year old nearly ripped his arm off grabbing him and dragging them into the twin’s bedroom. 

“I want to go!” Penelope shouted as she jumped on his other arm. 

“Alright kids, no tug-of-war with Patton,” Patrick joked, coming up behind them. “And congrats, I knew you could do it.” Patton turned and gave the 14-year old a warm smile.

“Well you know what they say,” He said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, again!”

“Patty there’s only two tries,” Penelope said solemnly, blinking up at him.

“The first is for mistakes. The second is for figuring out those mistakes and what you did wrong. The third is for perfecting and revising and the fourth is your final copy.”

“Hmm I suppose.” Penelope released his arm and wandered back into her room, deep in thought. 

Later that night Patton lay in bed. The moon was shining through his curtains, creating a luminescent patten on the floor that he longed to dance in. Midsummer was a time of power, rivaled only by the Winter Solstice. It was a time of fire and passion, of making decisions in grander scheme of life. He rolled over in bed and stared at the sunstone sitting on his dresser emitting a faint golden aura. School would be fun, he just had to remember to control his magic. His family had been doing it for generations, and so could he.

With that thought, Patton closed his eyes and let himself fall into a dreamless sleep.

School started a month and a half later. After much preparation, Patton stood on the front doorstep with Patrick, the twins complaining in the background about not getting to go, waiting for the bus. He was downing the last of his tea so that Patrick could read it quickly before school began.

“Done!” He announced, wiping droplets off his upper lip. Patrick took the cup and turned it, peering at the clumps on the bottom.

“I see a cow, prosperity, and a dragon, large and sudden changes. And there’s a swan and a dog next to each other at the bottom of the cup so it looks like you’re going to fall in love and someone is going to dislike it, but hide their feelings.”

“Hmm. This morning’s cards were The Lovers, Six of Wands, Ace of Swords, and reversed Strength.” Love, victory and success, clarity and a sharp mind, and self-doubt and insecurity.

“Don’t fret. I’m sure it’s nothing bad.”

“I don’t know. I had a dream last night where I drew The Tower but there was two of them, and a lightning bolt had cracked them both.” Patton frowned as he looked down the street at the approaching bus. “Something bad is on the horizon.”

“You didn’t think to tell Mom and Dad?” Patrick asked as they climbed up the steps.

“I didn’t want to bother them. Besides, I’ve been waiting to go to school for forever! I’m not going to let one dream stop me.”

“Good luck,” Patrick chuckled as he sat down with his friend, Ricardo, and Patton waved goodbye. He made his way to the back of the bus where he could see a kid sitting, who looked to be about his age. 

“Hi! I’m Patton!” He said, plopping down next to the guy. He was wearing glasses almost identical to Patton’s and a pressed black shirt with a neat, medium blue tie around his neck.

“Salutations Patton. I am Logan,” The boy said, looking up from his book. 

“What’cha reading Logan?” Patton asked, leaning forward to lean against the seat in front of him. 

“A book on astronomy and space. It’s really quite interesting.”

“Hey hey hey,” Patton started, grinning wide, “How many ears does Captain Kirk have?”

Logan looked at him weirdly.

“Two, obviously.”

“Nope! He has three! A left ear, a right ear, and a final frontier!” 

Logan blinked and muttered, “Front-ier? Front...ear. Oh dear lord.”

Patton giggled evilly as a look of utter disappointment and exasperation came over Logan’s face, a smile twitching at the more serious one’s lips. 

“Why didn’t the Dog Star laugh at the joke?” Patton asked, smirking as Logan furrowed his brow in concentration. 

“Why?”

“Because he was too Sirius!” Patton crowed and Logan sighed, facepalming and holding back a laugh.

“Those were rather good. What is your knowledge on astronomy and the stars?” Logan asked, adjusting his tie. 

Patton hesitated for a moment. Something told him that Logan was the type of person to laugh in the face of astrology and magick.

“Oh you know, just simple stuff like constellation positions.” He said, chuckling nervously. If Logan noticed the fear he was feeling, he did not mention it. 

“Ah. Space is a vast place, filled with infinite knowledge. I myself do not know the quantities I wish to know of it, but I am learning. Here is the school. What is your first period?”

“Umm,” Patton pulled out his schedule and looked at it. “History. Yours?”

“History as well. Perhaps we should keep each other companionship.”

“Are you asking me to be your friend?” Patton teased. Logan stuttered and looked down. “Because YES!”

“That would be satisfactory,” Logan said, but Patton could see the near-invisible smile on his face.


	2. Ace of Swords

Patton didn’t realize it until fifth period. 

Fifth period was P.E. and his teacher had decided to make the class play football outside, despite it being the middle of the day in August in a small town in the southern United States. And the first day of school. Patton could already tell he wouldn’t like this teacher. 

“Victory!” yelled one of the guys after throwing the ball. Patton politely  
clapped from where he stood on the field, not having a clue as to what had just happened. 

“I do not see the point of this game,” Logan said as his friend Roman walked over. “Surely you all realize that your chances of receiving a position in the National Football League are near nil and those of you that might make it will most likely have to quit due to too many injuries? Why do you waste time and effort on something that will not succeed when you could be studying how to actually make a change in the world?”

“Well Logan,” Roman said, waving at Patton and putting an elbow on his friend’s shoulder. “Think of it like this. You have no reason to learn new languages because you're going to be an astronomer, and yet you do it because it's fun for you.”

“You speak other languages?” Patton asked, his eyebrows lifting up. 

“Oui, je parle français, og jeg snakker norsk, y habla Español, und ich spreche Deutsch, いくつかの日本語, e un po 'di italiano.”

“I have absolutely no clue what you just said.”

“He can speak French, Norwegian, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Italian, is what he said,” Roman told Patton. “I've picked up a little.”

“Wow. That's impressive.”

“Indeed. I, of course, was successful in learning fluent Español,” Roman said, smirking a little. 

Patton’s eyes suddenly widened at his words. Victory…success… Was Roman the Six of Wands? And did this mean Logan was the Ace of Swords because he was intelligent? Who was reversed Strength then? And how did this tie into The Lovers? Was there about to be a love triangle?

“Excuse me,” He said and ran off to the locker rooms at the end of the field. Patton collapsed inside the door, locking it and pulling out a bag. He rummaged through it, pulling out candles, random crystals, tea bags, wooden carvings, and then finally, his tarot cards. 

“Finally,” he muttered and began shuffling them. The cards were old and worn, infused with generations of magick and Patton could feel it tingling underneath his fingers. It was stuffy inside the locker room and Patton wished he could be outside as he cut the deck. “One card. One card draw to tell me the truth about the future.”

He spread them out and closed his eyes, letting his hand hover over the deck. A warmth began to spread through his hand, the unseen force of magick guiding his hand to select a card. 

“Temperance,” He said, opening his eyes. “Temperance,” He repeated, then glared at his deck. “So you're telling me I need to have patience and I'll find out myself? That's annoying. Tell me please. Please please please.”

The card deck sat there, because it is still just a stack of paper, no matter how infused with ancient magicks it is. Patton rolled his eyes and reshuffled them before placed them back in his bag. 

“Well if that's all I'm getting…” He stood up and opened the door. “I guess I’ll just have to wait.”

He returned to Roman and Logan who were giving him odd looks. 

“Sorry about that,” He chuckled nervously, “I ah, I drank too much water at lunch.”

“No worries!” Roman said, “Say, I never got your name.”

“Patton. Patton Sabine.”

Roman’s eyes widened for a second but then relaxed as he held out his hand. 

“Oh cool, I’m Roman Savine.”

Patton had a mild internal panic attack. See, it’s time for a little history lesson. 

About 600 years ago, there had been a circle of friends. A faeire, a dryad, a star, and a selkie. When the New World was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus, a war began among the magickal folk. The faerie and selkie were on one side, the dryad and star on the other. Soon after it began, the war ended but the damage was done. The selkie and star had forgiven each other, but the faerie and dryad could not. Families were born and the four died, but their lineage passed on. The selkie and the star had sworn off their heritages after the horrors of the war and their descendants went on living with no knowledge of their ancestors. The faerie and the dryad, too proud to admit to their mistakes, taught the children after them of each other and how to wield magick. Over time the two families drifted to the various corners of the world and only had the stories told to them. The last detail you need to know is that long before the political betrayals, the four friends had taken similar names, so that they may always be linked together.

“What a strange coincidence,” Logan remarked and Patton whipped around to look at him. “My last name is Sadine.”

“Yup, strange,” Patton said weakly, his head spinning. Roman had to have been the dryad descendent. Patton’s family was faerie, and even though he’d just met Logan early that day, it was obvious he was the descendent of the star. The boy had been reading a book on astrology for goodness sake. Selkies were far more pale and soft and curvy than Roman was. He was tanned, with strong arms and a tall build. 

The bell rang at that moment and Logan immediately took off, yelling over his shoulder about how his next class was all the way on the other side of the campus, leaving Patton and Roman staring each other down. 

“So, Sabine,” Roman said, “Reminds me of a story my grandfather told me.” 

Patton glared cooly at the other boy. 

“Oh really? Was that perhaps the story of how your great great however many greats it is grandmother betrayed my family?”

“No, it was how your great great something grandmother betrayed my family.” Roman suddenly held up a hand and shook his head. “Wait, no. What are we doing? That was generations ago. I may be dramatic, but not _that_ dramatic.”

“You’re not wrong,” Patton said with a small smile. “Friends, then?”

“It would be my honor.”

“Mine too,” Patton said, his smile widening. He looped his arm through Roman’s. “Come on we’re going to be late for class!”

~

“Well you two are getting along splendidly.”

It was Wednesday, a full week after Patton had started school. He and Roman had agreed to not tell their parents each other’s last names, out of fear that a revenge plot might occur. Magical folk were very intense at times. They had also bonded over their love of puppies and musicals. 

“Indeed, Logan!” Roman yelled over the sound of a car horn at the stoplight. The three were walking home from school with plans to do homework at a nearby bakery. They were in a lot of classes together, and help with homework was needed in the last year of high school. There were a few moments of silence before Patton broke it.

“Hey Roman,” Patton started with the tell-tale grin that he was about to make a joke, “I did a theatrical performance about puns once.”

“Oh? Congratulations.”

“Really it was just a play on words. Thanks though.” Patton waited the usual one and a half seconds before he heard the laughing/groaning noise that told him he’d done a good job. 

“Patton, these puns are out of hand. You’ve made 47 in the week we’ve known you.” Logan said. 

“You’ve been counting?” Roman exclaimed. 

“I don’t know Teach, I feel pretty punstoppable.” 

“No.”

“You know, I’m only friends with 25 letters of the alphabet. I just don’t know Y.”

“Flames. On my face. On the side of my face. Flames.”

Patton was grinning as they entered the ice cream shop. He took a bow just inside the door and said, “Thank you berry much for coming with me,” tapping on the display to the right advertising blackberry ice cream.

“Did you -” Logan turned to Roman, “He didn’t plan that, right?”

“I don’t know,” Roman said through his laughter, “But I think he’s just been named as the ruler of puns.”

“Well I am a pun-king!” Patton exclaimed, pointing at the little drawing of a pumpkin in the corner of the display. 

“I - I’m out.” Logan said and walked over to a table, leaving Roman collapsing on Patton with laughter.

“Why did no one ever tell me that the Fae are so hilarious?” Roman asked as he caught his breath.

“We are mischievous and tricksters. Puns fit right in.”

“True. Now let’s join Logan and die a miserable death of Chemistry homework.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Google Translate for the languages line, so if it's incorrect, please comment and I'll fix it.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos to anyone who looks up the meanings of the chapter names


End file.
